No it’s probably not what you’re thinking. Have
you ever loved something for years and then you
had to let it go? As much as you know it has to be
done or it may be for the best for both of you,
it’s still hard.

I’m talking about my car. Yes, a car. I’ve always
been a big fan of cars, all kinds. I remember when
I was a little kid the first car I was madly in
love with was a yellow Citroen that looked
something like this; make sure you imagine it as
yellow as absolutely possible. I saw it in a deck
of playing cards and that was my favorite card out
of the whole deck of cards.

Then as I got older my tastes got a little bit
more expensive, I still love the Citroen but now
my dream car is a Ferrari or a BMW M6, the older
M6’s. Although, I sure wouldn’t kick a Maserati or
a Lamborghini out of bed for eating crackers.

When my kids were younger, I really wanted to buy
an older 1967 Volkswagen Classic Van and fit it
with a bed, a little kitchen, all the comforts of
home and go camping with them. I know camping in a
VW Van isn’t truly camping, but I say to each
their own; am I right?

Our idea of camping is like roughing it at a Best
Western or KOA Campgrounds; yes I know I’m showing
my age here; I don’t even know if they still
exist.

Throughout my life, I drove a lot of hand me down
cars, new cars, old cars, half and half cars. Yes
my dad was in the body shop business so he would
stick two, sometimes 3 cars together to make one.
I knew they were the safest cars out there because
my dad gorilla glued them together.

So in 2005 I finally purchased my first adult car
on my own; it was a gorgeous 2005 red Dodge Neon
with spoilers. It was the last of the Dodge
Neon’s to be made and honestly I don’t think the
spoilers made a difference at all but it sure
looked cool and I was able to say I had spoilers,
just like the cool kids.

I have to admit it wasn’t like my dream car but it
was a great car that I needed at the time to get
me from here to there to everywhere. Even though
it was purchased under emergency circumstances
which meant that I didn’t have much time for
looking and test driving, I still fell in love
with him right away. Yes it’s a him and his name
is Dwight.

Dwight and I have been through a lot, more than
some people go through in their whole lives. We
had a lot of fun times, happy times, crazy times,
road rage times, some illegal, mostly legal, and
sad times but that car always kept moving and kept
us safe. I hardly had to spend any money on
repairs except for oil changes. We would just get
in and go. He loved new shoes which I would
obviously get him from time to time; he loved
designer shoes.

When I got Dwight, my daughter was about 9 years
old and my son was about 17 years old. The great
thing about this car is that it was a family car.
We had fun in it; there was sand from the beaches,
toys, food, clothes, blankets, you name it we
probably had it in there. We ate, cried, danced,
and sang in that car.

Dwight took us to ice skating practices, karate
practices, dancing classes, work, the beach, vet
offices; you name it he’s been there. There’s been
a lot of tongues hanging out the window from my
little fur babies; no not me. Well that’s not
true; we had a thing for firemen, maybe because
their vehicle was red as well. Yeah, that’s the
reason.

Dwight was going somewhere every day of the week,
never giving us a tiny bit of trouble. He went
through snow, hail, fog, rain, and especially
LOVED puddles.

I know you’re thinking what is this all about?
Well, I want to write this as a thank you to our
awesome car, Dwight, for the great times we’ve had
together. His name is Dwight because he reminds me
of Dwight in Scary Movie 2, the guy in the
wheelchair that’s always angry and grumpy with
other drivers. No it’s not an operator issue, it
was Dwight, but that’s okay.

I think we go through life thanking everyone for
all they’ve done, or not thanking anyone for
anything. In some cases you just get a grunt which
is supposed to be a thank you I guess, but sadly
we never thank our cars for all they do for us.

Dwight never complained, he was always ready to go
when we woke him up. As he got older though, he
would creak and groan every now and then but he
still kept on moving.

Dwight and I had been together for 13 plus years,
in some cases longer than I’ve had a friendship or
a relationship and I’m perfectly okay with that.
He was always there for me, he never let me down.
He sat outside in the sun, wind, rain, hail, snow,
just waiting to take us wherever we needed to go.

Then the day came when my daughter got her
driver’s license, Dwight was the one that taught
her how to drive a stick shift. Dwight was also
there for her when she started driving on her own
to work; dance, meeting boys, dance, dance, and
more dance, and let’s not forget her first of many
dates.

He only got sick once while we had him and even
though he creaked and moaned from time to time and
had a hard time starting in the cold, he still
started and kept going.

Dwight protected her during a little fender bender
when another person decided that her coffee was
way more important than the car in front of her,
which happened to be Dwight and my daughter, and
no one and I mean no one was going to get in the
way of her and her coffee, damn anyone that
happened to be on the road or living for that
matter.

I had a special note sitting in the sun visor that
my son wrote that had stayed in the car the whole
time I’ve had him. Anytime I had a bad day, that
note always put a smile on my face.

Dwight and I were the ones that took my four
legged fur baby to find out that she had cancer
that had to be removed. Dwight was always there
for me. Dwight took all three of my four legged
fur babies to the doctor’s office and just to run
around and get some ice cream and chicken nuggets.

I’m writing this thank you note today because
Dwight has moved on and I’m very broken hearted
about it. Sadly, Dwight got traded in for another
car. Dwight was obviously getting older, he was
starting to get sicker and he wasn’t as safe as he
used to be.

Since my daughter was driving it, I needed to make
sure she was in a safe car, for her safety and
Dwight’s. I honestly think Dwight needed to go to
a car nursing home and take it easy for the rest
of his life; he more than deserved the rest.
Having me drive Dwight throughout the years was
like living through World Wars 1 and 2 and throw
in a 3 and a 4 as well for poor Dwight.

I was sad because the whole thing happened so fast
and I wasn’t able to give him a proper goodbye. A
car was found, the trade was made and within 2
days, Dwight was cleaned up and left at his new
home.

Sadly, I never got a chance to say a proper
goodbye to him, which may be a good thing because
I would have gotten too emotional and may have
come up with a good reason to keep him even though
it’s for the best.

This may be a weird blog post for some but I
wanted to share this because I think we all take
our cars for granted and every now and then we
need to give them a hug, wash them up really well
and tell them how awesome they are. Yes I used to
tell Dwight all the time how awesome he was.

I truly feel that cars do better if you talk to
them. I used to tell Dwight all the time how much
I love and appreciated him. Dwight and my family
spent over 13 years together, doing all kinds of
bad things, good things, sneaky things, some
illegal things, only Dwight and I will ever know
about; I sure will miss all the good times we had.

Here is Dwight during his last bath …

… and at his last spot where I parked him and said
my quick good-byes. He still looked gorgeous even
after all these years.

It’s like your first love, I’ll never forget him.

I wish you all the happiness and love Dwight, I
miss you.

Do you have something, someone, a car that you
miss or a vehicle that you want to thank for being
so good to you? Please share.

2 replies to "Have you ever …"

Julie, Just reaching out to you as a member of Partnership 2 Success as John Thornhill recommends.
I really liked your site, very honest & loved the car blog. Great use of white space, interesting topics, fabulous graphics, and very easy to navigate.
If you get a minute could you look over my site http://stephenbradshawonline.com any comments both good or bad I would be extremely grateful to you, thanks, Stephen

Hi Stephen. I really like your blog. The only thing I would maybe change is to add more pictures. I remember John mentioning that. Plus I like pictures, less I have to read 🙂 Just kidding. Great job!!!